A Grim Reality

It’s the kind of thing that many people just can’t imagine happening. Especially on the East End.

But the horrific practice of human trafficking is a crime that knows no geographic boundaries — and the trendy Hamptons, with its transient summer population, plethora of Airbnbs and motels, and promises of summer playgrounds and seasonal jobs used to entice young women, is no exception.

That women and young girls — girls as young as 12, and younger, are a prime target for traffickers — are trafficked at all is horrifying. That it’s happening in our backyards is somehow more appalling. Worse still is that while it’s happening here, and has been for years, seemingly no one has sounded an alarm.

A September 30 conference on sex trafficking in Suffolk County, held at Brookhaven Town Hall in Farmingville, called “Make It Stop: Human Trafficking — the Sad Reality,” helped shed the light on the shocking criminal enterprise and those who are guilty of it.

It’s not an isolated practice and eastern Long Island is not exempt.

A 2018 human trafficking case, dubbed “Operation Yacht Club,” was aided in part by an East Hampton Town Police patrol officer, who stopped a car whose occupants turned out to be a trafficker and a young victim who was being transported to an East End client. The quick thinking of the officer in recognizing what was happening and the information he garnered helped lead to numerous arrests and convictions as part of the larger operation.

But neither the East Hampton arrest nor the larger operation were well publicized locally. Perhaps law enforcement and prosecutors need to keep details close to the vest to protect ongoing investigations. Or maybe the nature of the crimes just seem distasteful and are easy to shove behind the curtain.

But secrecy — intended or not — just aids the criminals, allowing them to operate under the radar, and further victimizes the women and girls under their thumbs.

Granted, sex trafficking is not as rampant on the East End as it is in the western reaches of the county and in New York, according to East Hampton Town Police Captain Chris Anderson, and is more pronounced during the sumer as the transient population moves in and out of the area, but it does exist.

And it must be recognized. And it must be stopped.

Federal, state and local agencies have made great strides in recent years to attack the problem and its perpetrators.

Until a few years ago, girls and women who had been forced into prostitution were treated as criminals instead of victims. Now, the laws have changed, as has the approach to the problem. Women tormented by predators for years are treated more humanely and offered help in dealing with their trauma. Sadly, sometimes, after years of abuse and conditioning, it’s simply too late. Survivors of sex trafficking see police and the courts as their enemies and reject the help, often leading to tragic ends.

Traffickers prey mostly on the most vulnerable, those living in poverty, suffering from low self-esteem, victims of prior sexual abuse or who have fallen victim to drug abuse. But anybody can fall victim to the traffickers.

There are warning signs to look out for that someone may be being groomed, officials said at the meeting last month. Things like chronic running away from home, substance abuse issues, signs of physical trauma and mystery older boyfriends, to name a few.

Everyone should be on the lookout for signs of abuse — and report anything suspicious. The time for secrecy is over, we can no longer deny that human trafficking exists and it’s happening everywhere. Only by facing the harsh reality that nobody and no area is exempt, can a light be shined on such a horrific and, ultimately, deadly enterprise — and work to put an end to it.